


October Leaves

by InsidiousIntent



Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, He's so sad y'all, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, POV Carlos, Poor bb Carlos, Team as Family, and things turn out ok!, but everyone loves him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-22 21:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23000869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsidiousIntent/pseuds/InsidiousIntent
Summary: It takes eight days.
Relationships: Carlos Reyes (9-1-1 Lone Star)/TK Strand, Carlos Reyes/TK Strand
Comments: 12
Kudos: 287





	October Leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Coda to 1x08 since we never got more details about how Carlos and the rest of 126 handled TK’s injury. I JUST WANTED A LITTLE MORE DETAIL

* * *

It takes eight days. 

Time passes, but Carlos can’t tell how fast or slow. He drives through the day untethered, a slow falling leaf in October. Suspended in the air, hovering in that moment before drifting to the ground. The world feels hazy.

He takes the elevator to the eleventh floor, and does not stop to say hi to the nursing staff. It’s been three days and there has been no progress in TK’s condition, since he isn’t awake. He enters the room quietly, taking the chair right next to the bed. 

TK stays unconscious on the bed, connected to tubes and machines, pale and vulnerable. A stranger may see and think TK looks like he’s at peace, but Carlos knows better. Carlos watches the gentle rhythm of his breathing, the slow movement behind closed eyelids. 

“Why won’t you wake up, TK?” he asks, voice shaky and cracking. He stays in the chair.

It’s five in the morning when Carlos is shaken awake, the slightly parted blinds in the hospital room letting in the faint honey rays of the morning. His breath catches at the sight of Owen, peering into his face and asking him if he’d like a cup of coffee. 

Carlos doesn’t make eye contact saying he’s on his way out anyways but thanks. He doesn’t know what to say to the man. 

Standing outside the hospital, he can’t help but look up at the high floors, imagining TK standing at the window of the eleventh floor room, smiling that sweet siren smile of his. For a moment his mind thinks it’s true, that he can see a silhouette in the window, when he’s shoved by a fast walking woman staring at her phone. She mumbles sorry but keeps on walking, heedless of the body she hit. 

Carlos puts his head down and walks back to the car. 

Grace Ryder is married to one of the firefighters - Judd. She’s also the dispatcher who talks to him often. She finds him in the room, sitting in his usual chair, half dozing because even though he has all this time now, he cannot sleep. Owen had to pull some strings to get him the time off, but he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Except sit here, right next to TK. 

She asks how Carlos is holding up. “We don’t see you around much, Officer Reyes.” 

“I’m sorry ma’am, I’ve been a little busy,” he says, trying not to sound too annoyed. She doesn’t seem to mind, sitting with him for an hour before leaving, a soft pat on his shoulder the only indication of her departure. 

“It feels like a year has passed already,” he says to TK. He wishes and prays that TK can hear him, even though the lack of a response grates at all his fears, amplifying. 

“I just wanted a little more time, to get to know you better first.” His laughter is too close to a sob, and he hopes none of the staff heard him. “All I wanted was a little more time.” 

He doesn’t stay long that night. 

He walks in the next day to see a couple familiar faces in the room. Paul and Marjan are both still half in their uniforms, exhaustion radiating from every inch of their faces. They move forward and touch his shoulder, anchoring him in their presence. He’s very happy to see them. 

“How is he?” Marjan asks, voice a little groggy. 

Carlos shrugs, and says nothing. He feels helpless and hates feeling this way. How is there nothing he can do to help TK? Why won’t he wake up?

They stay for a couple hours before manhandling him back to his car. “You need a shower and a shave,” Marjan says. “ _Badly_ ,” Paul adds. 

He goes home. 

***

He is forced to go for a couple shifts before he can come back. It’s been eight days, and he hasn’t heard any news from the team. 

He walks in to see the room empty, TK not in the bed that he should be in. A giant wave of panic seizes Carlos, and he runs out of the room to grab the first nurse he can find. 

“There was a GSD patient in room 14B,” he shakes her a little, “where is he?”

"I-I don't know," she stammers, and it's only then that he realizes he's been gripping her arms hard enough to hurt. He lets her go and she smiles at him weakly, rubbing up and down her arms.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles. “I was just-” he waves a hand when he hears his name. 

“Carlos! Where have you been?” Judd yells from behind him. He turns to see the guy running up to him with a big smile on his face. “He’s awake!” Carlos takes off running after Judd. 

TK is in a bigger room, sitting up and sipping from a cup of water. The 126 is all there, along with Michelle and her team, and even Grace. The crowd is all milled around TK and Owen, all in various stages of happiness. 

TK’s eyes turn bright the moment they land on Carlos. “You’re late,” he says in a soft tone. 

Carlos laughs in relief. It feels like he laughs for a while, knees weak and lungs burning. 

“They said I was out for eight days,” he says, grabbing Carlos as soon as he gets within grabbing distance. Carlos goes easily, and the team makes space for him by TK’s side. 

His hands shake as they trace TK’s face, memorizing the shape of his laughing wide awake eyes, the curve of his big smile. Owen’s glance is knowing and happy, from where he’s standing on the other side of TK. 

“Welcome back,” he says, because after everything that has happened this is the only thing left to say. He moves forward, knocks his forehead into TK’s, closing his eyes. TK feels solid in his arms, warm, real, _alive_.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” TK says in turn, hand on Carlos’ arm. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://insidious-intent.tumblr.com/)


End file.
